The first of November garden notes.

Posted Sunday, November 1, 2009, at 9:59 AM

It gets tough some time to think of headlines so cut me a break on this one. The chill must be affect me.

Looking outside gives me warm and sunny thoughts, but feeding the cats this morning brought the chill to my bones. We gave away about 20 goldfish yesterday to some folks from Murfreesboro. They wanted one of our stray dogs as well, but we resisted.

If it were not so wet, today would be a great day for picking up firewood from a friend's fields. We are not into muddy, so it can wait. There is plenty of fall chores to attend to if I MUST putter around.

The Titans game might be worth watching today, if just to see how they adjust. UT's fortunes are turning around, so maybe it can help the Titans. Well, maybe not, but .....

I was able to lighten our plant population a little this past Friday. We missed some of you "backsliders". Richard's has been sold and our room had a new coat of paint, but our newly found screen was taken down for sprucing up. We also shared some seeds for next spring, only four months away. We usually have enough warm streaks during winter to get a lot done. Will it be different this year?

I harvested two dozen figs this morning and immediately put them in boiling water. I knew from experience that if we kept them on the counter for eating fresh, they would ripen faster than our appetite and we would lose them. I added a little vanilla and molasses with the intention of letting them cook down to thicken the syrup. Of course, we have already snuck a few, but I think it will work well.

I see Debbi out there counting goldfish to see how many we have left after the purge. Our total thinning this year was about 30 this year, and she tells me she counted 20+-, so I guess that is not bad from the original 6 we put in there. Some of those guys are about 15" long, 9" deep and 3-4" thick. I guess we feed them too much.

We have still dodged our first frost but most of our plants have stopped producing. I can save some more begonias and start some mints for give-aways this winter. I am even tempted to try to save an eggplant. I saved a tomato last year that gave us our "first of the year" this past Spring, so maybe the eggplant this time. Anyone ever over-wintered one?

Our decorative, hot pepper that Mike gave us at a garden meeting seems to be adjusting well inside, but I think I will have to supplement light, even though it is in a south-facing window. It may survive without it, but I would like to keep the Easter egg colored peppers too.

Steve Mills and his wife have one daughter and live on a farm outside of Bell Buckle. They previously owned two coffee/ice cream shops, currently operate an internet sales company and teach classes, but his primary job involves the paper industry worldwide. Hobbies and interests lie in gardening, photography, recorded music and of course, their pets.